Chapter 496

At this moment, he didn't know what he had received, and his head tilted slightly.

Immediately after, he spoke:

"Three of you, let it end here. The imperial family was at fault first; you have already destroyed the palace. Let this matter be buried. I guarantee that the Purple Gold Empire will never again retaliate against the elves in any form!"

From the sky, Meng Ying's cold voice rang out:

"If the Purple Gold Empire makes any further move against the elves, it will be like this city!"

Her gaze pointed toward the palace, still blazing with fire.

The palace, in fact, was a city unto itself — equivalent to the inner citadel of the imperial city!

With a flick of her finger, Meng Ying sent the Grand Prince and the Fifth Prince, who had been terrified into losing their souls, tumbling off the flying vessel, screaming all the way down.

Seeing this, neither the Church's Holy Son nor the Imperial Tutor moved.

"Boom!"

The two princes crashed to the ground after falling hundreds of meters, leaving a massive crater and drawing a large crowd of onlookers.

"Hey, that's the Grand Prince."

"And the Fifth Prince!"

The onlookers recognized them.

"Cough! Cough!"

The Grand Prince, with his formidable strength, had not died from the fall; he rolled over, gazing up at the departing flying vessel, a look of relief crossing his face — he had survived!

"Cough! Cough!"

Beside him, the Fifth Prince also rolled over, blood trickling from his lips.

"Wah… we actually survived."

The Fifth Prince wept.

"The palace is destroyed, my army is gone — but I still have money. Fifth brother, give me your money. I can rebuild an army. When I take the throne, I'll recruit the wisest talents and avenge today's humiliation!"

The Grand Prince had been terrified, but seeing the crowd pointing and whispering — many with contempt and disdain in their eyes — he was stung, vowing to repay this humiliation!

A gentleman seeks revenge, and ten years is not too late!

When he turns the Purple Gold Empire into a great empire, legends will no longer be feared!

"Wah~"

But immediately, the surrounding crowd let out cries of shock.

Hearing the crowd's reaction, the Grand Prince grew furious, ready to lash out — then suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Big brother, big brother, save me!"

The Fifth Prince's voice came.

The Grand Prince turned his head and saw the Fifth Prince's body dissolving into ash at an astonishing rate — first his legs, then his waist, then his upper body.

"Fifth brother!"

The Grand Prince gasped, reaching out to grab him — but caught only a handful of ash.

"Wah~"

The crowd erupted in fresh cries of shock.

The Grand Prince's heart sank — he looked down and saw his own body turning to ash.

In his final moments, the Grand Prince was filled with endless regret!

If he had known, he would never have laid a hand on that elf.

But there was no "if only."

And the feeling of crawling out of despair, seeing hope, then falling back into despair — it was truly unbearable~~

The Grand Prince turned completely to ash!

In the sky, ten flying vessels slowly drifted farther away.

The Church's Holy Son and the Imperial Tutor both descended from the air.

The Church's Holy Son's face was grim; even though the enemy had destroyed the palace and targeted the imperial family, they had struck right under his nose — and he, intimidated by their power and divine decree, had no choice but to swallow his anger. How could his mood be good?

"Send men to purchase intelligence from the continent's largest intelligence agencies. Find out which nations use fire as their symbol. Discover the gods behind them. I want to know who these He Fangshensheng are."

The Church's Holy Son's voice strained to suppress his fury.

"Yes!"

That day, countless Church personnel poured out across the land to buy intelligence.

The news of the Emperor's death spread through the imperial city at top speed!

That day, the Purple Gold Empire lost not only its Emperor, but two Imperial Princes — and most importantly, its palace was utterly destroyed.

Though many palace maids escaped, the impact of the palace's destruction was terrifying.

Even neighboring human kingdoms began stirring.

Yes, the Purple Gold Empire was an empire.

But only a small one.

One human kingdom could only be crushed by the Purple Gold Empire — but what of seven or eight?

Had the Church not been so powerful, neighboring human kingdoms would have already attacked.

And after the Emperor and the two Princes died, the remaining princes began fighting for the throne!

The greater impact lay among the people.

Over two million people in the imperial city had witnessed the palace's destruction, then heard that the two Princes had been killed.

Then came the news of the Emperor's death.

Though the official announcement claimed the Emperor died of illness, not rage, why did he die of illness now — and not before or after? It was suspicious.

And when the Zi Jin Empire was bullied like this, the imperial family had no power to retaliate, and the church adopted a policy of appeasement.

As a result, the imperial family and the Huangshiyu Sect have lost much of their credibility in the people's eyes!

Some sharp-eyed citizens, through certain tools, saw the flame symbol on the flying ships, and a rumor spread: that the gods of the Zi Jin Empire were inferior to the god behind the force bearing the flame symbol—whose god had three legends, while theirs had only two, and yet they still had to swallow their anger when Rendashang Sect came knocking.

The spread of this rumor naturally owed much to neighboring human kingdoms eager to stir trouble.

Even along the borders of the Zi Jin Empire, some human kingdoms' Guodejiao Societies seized the opportunity to snatch away faith.

Throughout the entire Zi Jin Empire, ghosts and ghouls ran rampant for a time.

Without a considerable amount of time, it would never settle down again!

"Holy Maiden Mengying, thank you for your aid!"

On the flying ship, Princess Chenxi thanked Mengying.

Mengying shook her head and said, "We are both holy maidens of my god—no need for formalities!"

Then she added, "Let us part here. Operating the flying ship still requires some time, so they will remain aboard for now. Once they learn, next time you come to Divine Mechanism City to recharge the magic stones, you can bring them back."

One person can operate a small flying ship, two are needed for a medium one, and four for a large one.

All these operators are fox women.

So this time, Mengying brought fifteen fox women.

Mengying planned to leave these fifteen fox women aboard the flying ship to teach the elves how to operate it—it wasn't difficult at all; they'd learn in a few hours.

Princess Chenxi nodded and said, "Then thank you for your trouble, Holy Maiden Mengying!"

The two groups parted ways.

Mengying also gave the elves the flying ship she had seized from the Imperial Prince; the original operator had been thrown off, and now this ship was operated by a fox woman transferred from the large flying ship.

Three people were barely enough for a large flying ship.

Mengying flew alone toward Divine Mechanism City.

Meanwhile, Princess Chenxi and Luomina prepared to first lead the flying ship fleet to retrieve another elf tribe, located roughly ten thousand kilometers away, before returning to Holy Flame Forest.

In the sky, as a legendary being, Mengying's flight speed was swift.

Generally, a Seventh Rank Grand Mage could fly, but even they grew exhausted after prolonged flight; however, once one Reached Eighth Rank, it became much easier, and at the legendary level, flight consumed no energy at all.

She did not fly directly back to Divine Mechanism City.

Instead, she spent two days crossing the Zi Jin Empire, observing the conditions around it.

The Zi Jin Empire was indeed located northeast of Yan Kingdom!

Between the Zi Jin Empire and the Endless Desert lay three human kingdoms.

These three human kingdoms were also targets of the Zi Jin Empire's attacks.

The competition among the Imperial Princes for the throne was waged through attacks on these three human kingdoms.

To resist the Zi Jin Empire's assaults, these three human kingdoms formed a united defense—and somehow managed to survive.